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Late collection charges


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Please can anyone share with me what your late collection fees are. We had a situation today when a parent was 45 minutes late!! And the excuse...I didn't realise the time!! Our current charge of £5 in this situation is laughable as the cost of two staff for this extra time is almost £16. Please can you share what you charge. I want to take this to our committee meeting next week to discuss. Thank you. :1b

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Err safeguarding issue , if parent has not notified you then a call after 10 mins , if unavailable then emergency contacts to be called and if no response . Social services to be called.

 

We had a situation a few weeks ago , parent failed to let us know , I reiterated policy which she did not take kindly too , asked her to discuss which she replied she would do by email ! I explained it was to be face to face and when I did she got very defensive but stuck to my guns, we don't charge late fees as would end up being a lot of hassle but made it very clear in newsletter , said parent not been late since !

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Yes quite aware that it is a safeguarding issue and called the parent and emergency contact every 10 minutes and left messages and then as our non collection policy states was going to call MARU. Thankfully she collected before I had to make that desicion. Please do not think that I did nothing for 45 minutes.

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May not help in above but after years of waiting for parents we open the door 5 minutes early now. So even if parents turn up on time they seem late as other parents are half way up the road.

 

It works for me and no one has complained.

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We now say £5 for first 5 minutes (or part of) and £1 per minute after that. I reminded everyone before half term and said that we would now start to enforce this rule/charge. Charged 2 parents in the first week and everyone else has been fine since.

Last Friday we had someone ring us in a panic as when she went to leave her house someone had blocked her drive, someone rang yesterday to say traffic where she was, was dreadful and she was worried she maybe late. As it turned out neither of them was and even if they had been I wouldn't dream of charging them- it's those that turn up continually 5/10 mins late and say "oh am I the last" or nothing at all- they drive me mad. Hopefully this has now stopped it.

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Zig zag sorry my comment was not intended to make you think I thought you had done nothing , my point was that you must follow your procedure. If you had not heard from parent and unable to reach any contacts then carry out your procedure that's what it's there for , 5 / 10 mins but 45! That's taking the **** after all you have no idea what has happened in that time , it may seem harsh but as parents should be aware of your policies and procedures then you have every right to enforce them . :)

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Just to add my pennyworth here....there is no point in calling social services......unless the child is already known to them and has an open case. If a child has been abandoned you need to ring the police and they will contact social care if needed. Policies should be reflecting this.

BTW we dont charge late fees as the street we live on is notoriously difficult to park on staff are employed until 15 minutes after session so not really an issue until after that....i always feel if you charge fees then some parents see it as a right to pay up and be late!

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Zig zag sorry my comment was not intended to make you think I thought you had done nothing , my point was that you must follow your procedure. If you had not heard from parent and unable to reach any contacts then carry out your procedure that's what it's there for , 5 / 10 mins but 45! That's taking the **** after all you have no idea what has happened in that time , it may seem harsh but as parents should be aware of your policies and procedures then you have every right to enforce them . :)

Our policy is that staff will continue to look after the child until 1pm (session ends 11:45) or until the staff are no longer able to stay. We live in a very remote rural area, mobile phone signal is nearly non existent, it is not uncommon for parents to be late after being stuck behind tractors, sheep or cows!! So I think we have to use our common sense and I would certainly not dream of calling social services after only 10 minutes. Also it would take them over an hour to get to us anyway!!

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My staff are all employed for 15 mins after we close as well- however this is to pack away and clear up- parents are only paying up to a certain time. We run another session straight after our morning one and quite a few are there all day and paying for this. I think this is where a few think it doesnt matter as we are there anyway. But it does matter as I dont see why we should charge some (those that are there for the afternoon ) but not others (those that should have been collected 10 minutes beforehand.

Our street is no parking at all- and quite frankly if you know parking is non existent or difficult then you should be making allowances for this. I do feel sorry for the children sometimes- you can see they are wondering or getting a little panicky over why they still there or worse the only one there. Annoyingly they always seem to think its OUR fault!

Edited by lynned55
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Yep never their fault, always feeble excuses (when they bother), would love to be able to say "and that's my problem how ?".......and why is it the parent who left her child upset or anxious at the start of session, fussing over them, making out like Mother Earth that then thinks it's acceptable to be late and cause them more stress at the end of the session :/

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Zigzag I think I should not have commented at all as did not realise the situation you are in , so much clearer now .

Your setting is very reasonable to continue looking after children an hour after session ends and if parents still turn late after that then I would make a serious charge !

 

Few late parents and you got yourself a nice holiday :) after all there must be some benefit haha

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Zigzag I think I should not have commented at all as did not realise the situation you are in , so much clearer now .

Your setting is very reasonable to continue looking after children an hour after session ends and if parents still turn late after that then I would make a serious charge !

Few late parents and you got yourself a nice holiday :) after all there must be some benefit haha

No offence taken, I guess all our settings are unique in not only policy but location as well.
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